TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon Mar 03, 2014 1:55 pm

Thanks the A Pillars worked out nice and were here before I needed them.

Thinking about swapping to a bulkhead bus since the walk through seats are so hard to find. I kid I kid.
I bought back the Bulkhead section that was in the front clip I sold last year to rob the pedestals off of. I could not find any pedestals from an early bus so I figured I would have to modify these. They have some surface rust but are actually solid in the seating area, the lower section will require some work on both.
Bulkhead ready for harvesting.

Stocknazi had asked earlier for the pedestal picture and here it is in all it's glory. Storing this bus for 30 years with no front windows caused havoc to the seat pedestals and doors. Its funny when I first got the drivers door open it was not this bad but hammering and beating on the bus over the past couple of months has made sections fall from it.

And the other one ready for fitment.

And fits really nice actually. I need to remove the seat track and weld in the bracket for the walkthrough seat.

Messing with these and fitting the front floor will probably be the project for the week and weekend.

Mon Mar 03, 2014 3:25 pm

Phillip, its amazing how og metal just falls into place with out any tweeking

you are killin it. keep the pics coming.

Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:49 am

StockNazi wrote: Got any pics of the bracing you used?

Sorry I missed this. I only have one picture that you can see a section of it. I used angle iron and ran it to the hinge area of the a pillar and welded a vertical brace to the support brace in the nose and frame. Although it was small angle it never moved. If the bracing stays put after running the Air chisel-impact screw knocker thing to remove the hinge screws, I feel it is good to go. When I ran that thing there was a dust/rust outline of the entire bus on the driveway-no joke!

When I did the other bus I did something similar but did not tie the a pillars mainly because they had to be completely removed, I had to tie left and right together on that bus. I guess you could tie the left and right together if you wanted and bring back a brace to the b pillar but I did not think it was needed in this case.

Also had to make the lower section for the passenger side pedestal.

Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:20 pm

Since The drivers front seat bottom looks to be super hard to find I am looking at having a frame made and then try to find a spring solution.

Fri Mar 07, 2014 7:05 pm

With the HOA driving through this weekend I had to shuffle cars around to hide it from the HOA Nazi's.
Had to bring the Westy out and wash off the Bulli dirt that was still on it.

And in hiding.

I was able to fix the lowers of each pedestal and have both welded in now and hoping to fix the inner wheel well areas on each side this weekend.

Now you can sit stand walk whatever you want on each seat pedestal.

Sat Mar 08, 2014 5:15 am

Very impressive Phillip, BTW.....nice line up you got there

Sat Mar 08, 2014 6:35 am

wow, nice work man. Moving along quickly and looking good!

Sun Mar 09, 2014 3:52 pm

Thank you and trying to keep it moving forward.
I was able to deal with several areas in the wheel wells to get ready to mount the dog legs. Certain parts in this area especially the passenger side was much better than the westy.
I did have to use the entire b pillar part for the drivers side and make a patch above where the dog leg mounts due to rust higher than expected.
Drivers side. Still have some welding and grinding to do here.

Passenger side from the cargo area.

I was thinking about separating the dog legs and mounting the outer section first. The reason for this thought was there was a significant gap on both sides when placed on the B pillars. Instead I decided to hack out a section of the inner so I could reach the entire flange from inside all the way up. This way everything would stay put and I could draw up the Dogleg to the B pillar.

Glad I did as that made it much easier to land the Dogleg where it needed to be on both sides.
Now both of them have the forever treatment and are welded in. Still have to deal with the very bottom of the Dogleg at the b pillar, I got most of the "kickout" gone but it is still not perfectly square with the b pillar at the very bottom.

And Passenger side.

Now I have plenty of finish welding in several areas but the core of the work is done and I can get ready to fit the front floor.

Mon Mar 10, 2014 1:12 pm

Also this weekend cleaned up the drivers cargo floor and long panel for some por 15. I am going to install my popout seals but the floor had some serious flash rusting so I had to do something.

Mon Mar 10, 2014 2:38 pm

man you make me feel like the laziest bum in the world.

Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:18 pm

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Phillip's an animal!

Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:03 pm

fluxcap wrote: man you make me feel like the laziest bum in the world.

Seriously!! Same here! :lol: :lol:

Mon Mar 10, 2014 6:37 pm

I feel pretty lazy myself most of the time. I come in and say that was all I finished today?

Tue Mar 11, 2014 6:59 am

very nice job in a super timely manner!
sorry for all the compliments and not trin to make your head big but this is awesome dude keep it up!! :popcorn:

Tue Mar 11, 2014 6:26 pm

Thanks no big head here, certainly appreciate the motivation.
Got the front floor fitted. Had to make 4 patches, once they are finished I can weld this thing in.
I was very happy with the fitment of this floor. I have used WW as well and they are both very nice.

Thu Mar 13, 2014 3:33 pm

Putting some time each night on the cab area.
Floor fit very well as mentioned before but I did have to patch a few spots on the headlight support panel and a small patch on the a pillar just above the floor on the drivers side.
Started welding in the floor. Will hammer the back flange to match the floor where I had to make the lower sections.

And while I am up here check this picture out. This was day one and right after I took this picture I looked around and said what have I got myself into.

I have another dash that actually is covered in mango but I am curious what you guys think about the options.
Here is how it looks after some hand buffing and knocking the scale off.

I am actually ok with how it looks but do you guys think I should strip it and paint it back? Obviously more work but I will be painting the pedestals and floor anyway so could paint it at the same time. I am leaning towards leaving it as is though.

Thu Mar 13, 2014 3:37 pm

I vote for "as is" looking good man!

Thu Mar 13, 2014 6:42 pm

X2-leave it

Thu Mar 13, 2014 6:48 pm

x3

looking GOOD!

Thu Mar 13, 2014 7:24 pm

I think a nice pristine Mango dash would look out of place on this Bus. I'd rock it as is!